Unconvincing Bliss
by Crimson-Eyed-Angel99
Summary: Complete - Kurogane's last nerve is straining not to explode, while Fai keeps floating through their adventures, blithely protecting the children and avoiding disclosing any more of his life than necessary. You can't have that much NOT boiling under the surface. But when it gets them kicked off an entire world... no slash
1. Chapter 1: Getting on people's nerves

Disclaimer: No works of CLAMP are mine, including Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHolic, and/or Magic Knight Rayearth.

Pairings: Not a focal point, but Syaoran/Sakura. No Kurogane/Fai slash.

(divider)

"ARGH!"

Strangled, the yell bounced forward from where Fai and Kurogane were walking to Sakura, Syaoran and Mokona (tucked inside Sakura's dress) were walking. The trio turning to stare back at the two of them, looks of puzzlement passing across the two children's faces.

"Um, Kurogane-san? Why are you yelling?" Sakura asked softly, blinking up at the taller man sleepily.

"Yes Kuro-rin, why ARE you yelling?" His golden-haired companion chimed in cheerily, his black eyes shining with glee. "Is something wrong?"

"NO! And shut the heck up with those stupid names! It's YOU who bothers me!" The ninja yelled, glaring at Fai and stalking ahead, passing the two children on the way, a small puff of sand whirling in his footsteps. Fai looked after him, then ran with long, unworried strides to catch up, Sakura and Syaoran close behind.

"Kuro-chaaan, I'm so hurt! What did I ever do to displease you?" Fai mock-whimpered, still beaming in typical Fai fashion, hair brushing around his smiling face. Kurogane paused, staring at him for a moment then looked over at Syaoran.

"Kid. Does the psycho look... strange to you?"

Syaoran cast his gaze over at Fai as if he were monitoring for bombs, noting the former magician's unconcerned expression and casual stance. Then again, there was never any tenseness in Fai, he just sort of... hung. Like lazy laundry in a hot summer afternoon, out to dry in the sun. Fai looked over at Kurogane, blinking lazily.

"Are we done Kuro-chi--"

"Don't even think about calling me another girly name." The ninja warned, glaring. "I don't want to hear it."

Fai shrugged lazily.

"What is this all about anyway?" He questioned, smiling helplessly at Syaoran, who looked back to Kurogane for an answer.

"Your stupid freaking SMILES!" Kurogane ranted, his harsh voice rising to it's usual yell on the last word.

"Not three days ago you and I had ACID. RAIN. Moxibustion! Whatever you call it, it was being dumped over us like a new year shower, and all you said in complaint was "this rain hurts". And you grinned like a moron, just like you're doing now, as you said it! You're always happy! ALWAYS!" Kurogane pointed at Fai accusingly. "There is something very wrong with you Fai D. Flowright."

"You can't judge him for being who he is!" Sakura protested, shaking her head wildly. "Fai-kun is just naturally that way!" Her commonly sleepy eyes wide, she stared up at Kurogane with shimmers of fiery determination shining through, setting a bit more of the girl Syaoran had once known free.

"Fai!" Came a familiar excited voice from a pocket of her dress. It bounced out of the pocket, landing on the blonde in question's shoulder.

"I'm perfectly fine Mokona!" Fai reassured, smiling easily. "See?"

"Fai looks fine!" Mokona buzzed, nuzzling into Fai's fluffy hood contentedly.

"Oh yeah, trust what the _manjuu bun_ says. That's an original idea. The only thing that thing does is make us all hungry!"

"NOT TRUE! Mokona helps Kuro-pii all the time and brings to other worlds! Mokona special!" The "manjuu bun" protested loudly. Fai beamed, pulling it out of his hood and glomping it happily.

"That you do! And you do it so well... Kuro-rin shouldn't be so mean! Mokona only helps us and you know so much!"

"Mokona knows more..." It chirped softly inside Fai's glomp in a more serious tone but Fai just stroked its head, playing with its ears as if he hadn't heard.

"Of course! Mokona is so cute and knows so much. Shouldn't pay attention to Kuro-mii."

"Why do you HAVE to call me stupid nicknames?!!" The ninja in question roared, glaring at the two of them. "Can't you just leave my name alone??"

"Mokona is afraid that's impossible Kuro-Kuro!"

"Don't DO that you-you scary... little... thing!"

Fai looked over at Kurogane, shaking his head. "Kuro-rin, you know I can be quite serious! Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" As he was saying this, he grinned at Mokona, murmuring something about not listening to Kuro-tte, and wasn't he just jealous of Fai's happiness anyway? Finally Kurogane looked over at the boy walking beside him.

"Syaoran, you're slightly saner then the rest of them--"

"Oooh, did Mokona just hear Kuro-ou give a compliment?"

"Yes Mokona, you did! Wheet-whoo!"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP! Look, it's not POSSIBLE you can be that happy all the time. What do you have to be happy about?!"

"The non-depletion of the ozone layer on this world, no nuclear war, no one has died yet, Kuro-chan is irritated with me..."

_And_ _if this keeps up, I'll never have to go home, Syaoran is in love with Sakura and someday she'll remember it, Ashura hasn't appeared yet, Chii once told me she loved me even though she shouldn't be capable of love, we keep meeting so many nice people who've never heard of us, we're all still alive... __Funny, there's more happy things I can't say then the ones I can. _Fai mused, staring at the cracked and dry desert ground.

"Well..." Syaoran interrupted Fai's track of silent thoughts, looking over at the blonde man. "Fai can be happy if he feels like it. Nothing really -wrong- with him, he's just not outwardly concerned about things."

"That's because all of you are serious and concerned outwardly enough for everyone!"

"Fai..." Sakura tugged on the older man's sleeve shyly, her eyes tired again as the conversation went over her head.

"Carry me?" She asked, knowing a little bit that she was helping the man out of his awkward predicament. Fai smiled and nodded, kneeling down to let the princess clamber onto his back.

"Of course your highness."

Kurogane watched with narrowed eyes. "Don't think I'm gonna ignore you being so weird."

"Fweet fweet fweet fweet fweeeet..." Fai "whistled" innocently and Kurogane clapped his hands over his ears.

"I TOLD you not to say the sound!"

"Aw, but it's fun!"

"Why didn't someone just TEACH you how to whistle?!"

"Are YOU going to, Kuro-fuu? Yay!"

"NO!!"

Sakura looked back at the sighing Syaoran, smiling at him as if they shared a secret. Her hair brushed cutely about her face and the boy ducked his head to avoid his blush being seen. Sakura's smiles... were so little like Fai's. Somehow, there were oceans and oceans between the two, even though they all traveled together, and why should one smile be so different?

Maybe Kurogane had a point after all.

(divider)

A storm was brewing overhead, had been for the past few hours in the rumblings and groanings of the sky over the desert. On this world, rainstorms over the desert were common and often lethal if one couldn't find refuge in the rocks scattered around the face of the desert quickly enough. In addition to the clouds, the wind had picked up as well. It caught with nimble fingers at the travellers' clothes and dragged them backwards in their path, throwing sand into their faces. Sakura early on had been ushered into the hiding fluff of Fai's coat, staying close to him beneath the warming fabric. Syaoran had, after being sternly told to, ducked under Kurogane's coat, using the wind-resistant cloth to shield himself. Mokona frantically searched for a feather, a town or a rock outcropping.

"WELL?" Kurogane hollered over the roar of the wind, clenching his teeth to keep the sand from getting inside his mouth despite his scarf. "HAS THAT THING FOUND ANYTHING YET?"

Fai hesitated, then nodded excitedly. "THERE!" He yelled back, pointing at a dark spot almost 20 meters away. Kurogane squinted at it skeptically.

"You think that'll hold all of us?" He muttered, more to himself then Fai. Syaoran poked his head out of the cape.

"Find something?" He yelled, though it seemed like hardly a whisper to Kurogane through the wind whipping. He nodded, pointing to where Fai had specified. Syaoran nodded, then suddenly threw the cape off from around himself, bolting towards the spot.

"SYAORAN!!" Kurogane hollered - and instantly regretted it, spitting sand disgustedly. Fai started after him, partially tugged along by Sakura, who was panicked for her 'rescuer's' well-being. Kurogane straightened and stalked after the group, cape flaring out dramatically behind him in a wave of black.

(divider)

The cave was three by five inches.

Or at least that's how it seemed to Kurogane.

"Couldn't we have found something a little BIGGER?"

"Do you want to go search then?" Fai inquired calmly, looking over at the cramped ninja. Kurogane growled and flopped back into a crouched position in the corner; his way of conveying that the sandstorm was not preferable to the small cave.

Syaoran was staying close as glue to Sakura, who was still wrapped in Fai's cloak which he had removed for her comfort. While Fai could wear it and she could use it at the same time, he wouldn't 'submit a princess to that indignity'.

Unfortunately, while this thinking working well in theory, it didn't warm the male blonde any.

"Think of yourself once in a while why don't you?" Kurogane demanded abruptly, folding his arms across his chest sulkily and looking over at the quiet Fai.

Fai pointed to his nose innocently, blinking in total surprise.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!"

"Maybe I think of myself all the time. Maybe you just don't see it." Fai replied, smiling enigmatically. Kurogane hadn't brought up the subject of Fai's smiles, or general manner at all for almost two days now, so the blonde was prepared for any probing questions that might be asked.

But the demand that came was not an expected one.

"Go tell Sakura you're going to wear your coat and she can curl up in it then."

"Ehhh? I can't do that, she's a princess Kuro-chan, I can't--"

"And I'm a ninja and I say go."

That was always a perfect ultimatum.

Fai pouted grandly, then smiled again at Kurogane, moving towards the two children. He glanced back at the ninja, smirking faintly as he started to say something but Kurogane cut him off before he could get the words out.

"I don't want to hear it."

"But Kuro-pii is being such a caring friend!" Mokona chirped in Fai's voice, causing both the adults to stare at it oddly as it poked its head out of the hood where it had taken permanent residence.

"Mokona heard the whole thing!"

"You sneaking manjuu bun! Use your own voice and stop messing with people's heads!"

"Mokona was NOT sneaking! Meanie!"

Ahem. On the other side of the cave, about three feet away in actuality, reality continued while Mokona made faces at Kurogane:

"I'm sorry Sakura-hime, but the great demon Kurogane demands that I put on my cloak again, and then you can sleep on the cloth. I deeply regret this intrusion, your highness." Fai swept her a low, dramatic bow - and promptly whacked his head on the low ceiling as he rose again.

Kurogane smirked inwardly. _That's what you get for calling me a demon, clown!_

"Fai-san! Are you all right?" Sakura asked hurriedly, eyes wide. Fai, being the excellent actor he was, smiled disarmingly, flashing a peace sign as he put his other hand behind his head sheepishly. His joyful mask didn't slip for an instant even as he felt droplets of blood brush his fingers. Pointy ceilings they grew on this world... the "injury" wasn't enough to tell the rest of the group however, so he wasn't about to inform them.

"Of course!" He replied cheerfully, keeping the red-tinted hand inconspicuously from the princess' gaze. She handed over the coat and Fai pulled it on, pulling the hood around his head closely.

"Why is no one looking at Mokona?!" The white animal demanded peevishly and obediently, the entire group turned to stare at him, giving Fai the chance to rid himself of the blood on his hand, hiding it inside the sleeves of his garment.

Mokona had it's face contorted into the "feather face"; eyes wide as saucers.

"Feather!" It yelled, in case they hadn't already figured it out, and then started making that ever-so-familiar 'mekyo' sound.

"Where?" Syaoran demanded and Mokona nodded thoughtfully, closing its enormous eyes.

"Very close..." It hemmed and hawwed, trying to pace the exact location of the feather. Fai inconspicuously reached back to touch his "injury" and, to his relief, realized it had stopped bleeding, and allowed himself relax back against the wall. Good. One less thing to worry about.

"Mokona lost it..." The white creature whimpered, its ears flopping unhappily. Fai smiled at it sympathetically.

"You'll find it again!"

"Not like we haven't had to wander around before." Kurogane mumbled, poking at the wall boredly and blinking as a crack appeared with the force of his poke. The thunder was rolling in full earnest now as Sakura curled up next to Fai. Syaoran was next to her as well, at a modest distance.

"I suppose this means I'm taking first watch?" Kurogane asked dully and Fai nodded, stating, "I'll take second, though not much is likely to attack us here."

There was silence after that, Kurogane sitting silently in the cave mouth while Sakura and Fai slept peacefully, even though Fai's smile seemed to fade while he slept, replaced with a look of sadness. However, it was too dark in the cave to really tell.

And Kurogane knew Fai would deny furiously any hint of sadness in himself. The blonde was a liar, actor, and aspiring psychiatric patient.

Lightning crackled suddenly, distracting Kurogane from his thoughts, and causing Sakura to tackle Syaoran in terror, encompassing the space between them in less then a second, clinging to the now-very-awake boy tightly, shivering.

"I-I..." She started, feeling tears rise in her throat. "I'm sorry! I never liked lightning..." Syaoran, blushing like a maniac, shook his head.

"I-it's all right." He whispered, stroking her hair tentatively. Sakura leaned into his hand as she calmed down, the lightning fading in her mind until she drifted off into sleep. Syaoran sat, smiling in the darkness, quietly stroking his princess' hair while the night crept on.

(divider)

Dreams were a fickle business, and ostensibly differed from person to person.

_Chii..._

_Tomoyo..._

_Princess Sakura..._

_That empty chair... the missing person... I love them so much..._

_Who's in the forest strolllling, the birds and the bees sing Mo-ko-na!_

(divider)

"Good morning!" A bright and rosy voice called. To a non-morning person, it would more then likely sound astonishingly like fingernails screeching down a chalkboard, with a few sirens thrown in for good measure, and a bagpipe. Which, coincidentally it did to Kurogane.

"And the storm last night burnt away so now all that's left are blue skies all around, a perfect day to look for Sakura-hime's memories!"

"Fai?"

"Yes Kuro-chan?"

"Shut up."

"But how can you waste the beauti--!" Fai was cut off as Kurogane booted the over-happy blonde and the excitedly-agreeing Mokona outside the cave, then the ninja stalked back inside, burrowing into his black coat to try and sleep again. The blonde moron hadn't woken him up for third watch. He thought they'd decided that each having half the night was too long. Three hour shifts... and Fai hadn't woken him up. If anyone had the right to be exhausted, Fai did!

Oh well. If he didn't want it, Kurogane would take it. Sleeep...

"Hee hee..." Sakura giggled softly. "Fai-san is a morning person, ne Syaoran?"

"It appears so." Syaoran replied, smiling faintly. Kurogane had noticed the boy had been happier a lot lately. Then again, with Sakura practically sitting in his lap, who wouldn't smile? He groaned and rolled over, coming face to face with the unforgiving wall.

Growl.

"Kuro-pii, there's something you should see!" Came a sudden call from outside the cave. Kurogane groaned, standing slowly. And what did the clown want THIS time?

"What is it?" He muttered loudly.

"I'm not sure." Fai gestured off into the desert vaguely. "It's that way. Looks almost like a man, doesn't it?"

"That" was a graceful silhouette, tall and thin on the horizon, it's slow gait moving it closer and closer. Kurogane leaned back, closing his fingers around the grip of a spear, the silver glinting in the sunshine. Spears had been the only weapon they'd been given for this world; primitive and yet to be proven effective.

"You think it's looking for a fight?"

"I don't think so."

The figure, revealing itself to be male as it drew ever closer, started to smile as he advanced. Finally, he called out.

"Travelers! I bid you welcome to the city of Hikatsu." He introduced grandly, sweeping a low bow. His hood slipped off as he did so, revealing a shock of bright green hair and the glistening of a golden earring. "My name's Ferio, and I'll be your guide to the city. Are there others with you?"

"Two others, a boy and a girl." Fai supplied quickly, making up their new identities. "We're searching for their parents you see, this man here is their bodyguard, and I am the one who--"

"--Sings songs and tells tales like a priceless fool. We keep him for entertainment." Kurogane interrupted sulkily. Ferio blinked at the duo and Fai beamed unashamedly.

"It is as Kuro-rin says!"

"And he calls people stupid names."

"Not true! It suits you!"

"WHAT?!!"

(divider)

After explaining everything to the two teens and gathering whatever supplies they had brought, the group moved out, Fai staying close to Ferio and learning more about the city.

"And you exist all the way out in the desert? Isn't that difficult?" Mokona had already informed them privately that some of the world was forest and they could claim to be from that area, explaining their lack of knowledge for the desert area.

"Yeah, but we still pull in our fair share." Ferio replied easily. After gathering them, he'd lost the 'formal streak' he'd started out using. "The only thing we really have trouble with is sand monsters."

"'Sand monsters'?" Kurogane asked incredulously. Ferio nodded.

"They're rather like long, well..." He stopped and drew a slug-shaped figure in the sand. "Only a lot bigger. They come up when it rains, for moisture I guess. That's when they begin ravenging. They wreck water mains, towers, anything containing water in large amounts- and anyone who gets in their way. They have teeth like knives too, since they eat rookos for protein. Rookos are brown, four-footed cats. You have cats in the forest right?"

"Yeah, we have 'em." Kurogane grumbled, remembering the felines from his world. Fai had never seen one, so he just smiled and shrugged.

"Anyway, you can stay at my place more then likely. To get information about the kids' parents, you'll have to check at the palace." Ferio said off-handedly, trying to bring the group back on topic.

"Yes, thank you! We'll try that." Fai said cheerily, then looked back in surprise as something rumbled loudly. Hadn't all the thunder died last night? There wasn't a cloud in the sky!

But evidently the rumble hadn't come from the sky, but from Syaoran, as Sakura stared in shock at her companion.

"Syaoran, are you okay?"

"Um... yes." The boy looked away quickly, blushing. "I'm fine."

"Ya hungry?" Ferio asked, turning around and waiting for the two to catch up. "I've got some food in my pack, ya can have that. It shouldn't be much longer from here anyway."

As Syaoran took some of the odd-shaped food from Ferio's pack, he decided to ask their guide something that had been bothering him.

"How did you know we were out here?"

"Oh, our princess sent me." Ferio replied quickly. "Her name is Fuu. I can guarantee you'll like her. I sure do." He grinned cheekily, playing with his golden earring.

"But don't upset Umi!" He said suddenly, hitting one fist into his open palm with a soft 'pamf' to emphasize his point.

"You see, she's the other princess here. A little... prissy, even though Ascot's quite good at calming her down."

"'Ascot'?" Fai inquired and visions of a) big frilly hats and b) horse races went dancing through Kurogane's head.

"Yeah, her closest friend. And, sort of boyfriend, though neither of them likes to admit it. But offend her and you'll find yourself fighting an extensive duel. It's just the way she is." Ferio finished his explanation and leaned back on his hands, spotting a white sphere which had shivered into being like a mirage, just a few hundred yards away.

"There we are! We keep it hidden so it's harder for the sand monsters to get in. They're surprisingly lucid in a rage..."

"Wow..." Sakura mouthed, the only thing any of them could manage. White crystals of buildings, shimmering in the sun like diamonds. The tallest one must have been over two hundred feet, it's glistening peak reaching into the sky. It struck Fai suddenly that the cities in his homeworld had looked like this, beautiful and frigid and fragile... white as falling snow.

But this city had nothing to do with that. It was merely beautiful.

"You coming clown?" Kurogane called back, looking over his shoulder at the awed blonde. Fai blinked in surprise, confused that the city had really left him dazed for a moment.

"Coming Kuro-wan!" He called, running after the ninja in a swirl of fluffy coat. Kurogane just glared.

" 'Kuro-wan'. There's a new one."

"Oh! Do you like it? I'll call you it always Kuro-wan!"

"NO! Cut it out with the stupid names!"

(divider)

This drabble is to satisfy my own desire for plot and character development in fanfiction. And for my liking of the Kurogane and Fai dynamic (but I don't write yaoi, and so we come to an impasse...)

This fic may not be completed; I feel it's fair to warn you of that (sorry, should have put this at the top I suppose). The writing style is also a bit dated because I wrote it a couple years ago. The fic takes place around ACIDTOKYO in the series, so waaay back there, for both the series and for me. For more recent writing, please check my profile.

Thank you very much for reading by the way! =) I hope you enjoyed it, or it at least entertained you for a little while. Second chapter will be up, um, at some point. After I edit it. ^^


	2. Chapter 2: Less than welcome

Disclaimer: Nothing of CLAMP's is mine.

Er. So, after three years, and as a result of Lyneel's review, I reworked this second chapter, plotted, and wrote the rest of this fanfiction out longhand and plan to type it up over the next few weeks and post it. Er. Cause it was fun?

Please do not tell me about character or continuity errors (honestly, this probably takes place directly after the fourth book, I believe, so they haven't experienced half of the things that would make this continuity error-able). The writing style is going to shift dramatically—because it's been years since I worked on it. As mentioned in the description, it's not slash, not going to become slash. Really, nobody is paired together in this besides faint Syao/kura.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

-L/CEA99

#

There were very few people milling about as they entered the city: not in the main square, nor in the public streets Ferio led them down—everyone they saw on the streets was hurrying somewhere, most of them carrying bundles. The city didn't look run down—all the buildings were white stone and polished edges, looming overheard. The streets were clean. This wasn't a struggling city.

"Astounding lack of people," Fai commented helpfully. Ferio nodded.

"It's baking day, something Umi instigated when she first became princess. Everyone bakes stuff at home, then brings it to the palace for a giant feast. We only have it once a month, when the moons are full, so you're all lucky to be here just today." He broke off and strode up to the gates boldly, where guards eyed the travelers with suspicious glances.

"These are guests from the forest side," Ferio announced. "They're to be given rooms and board upon their receipt, as decreed by Princess Fuu of the Royal Order."

The guards bowed deeply and didn't contest the order. Two of them pushed open the grand castle doors, holding them open for the troop of feather-searchers to enter. The room they stepped into was cavernous, ovaling into a dual set of staircases and platform, where a bulky man caught sight of them, paused, and braced his hands on the balcony railing to investigate. He was easily the same size as Kurogane.

Ferio grinned up at him. "I see you've been having fun training the guards again, Geo!"

"The next time she sends you on an errand, I'm gonna change the password. Be ready!" 'Geo' said good-naturedly and, at a signal they couldn't hear, headed off the second floor corridor. Ferio continued walking backwards towards the first floor hall—to keep an eye on them as much as to explain, Kurogane thought.

"Geo, our chief of security. He can be a little hard on the new staff, even though Zazu, his subordinate, gets more fun out of it. Since Fuu sent me out to find you, she'll be in charge of your receipt."

"And that is…?" Syaoran asked, without much certainty. "An introduction?"

"It'll be nothing. Hold on and I'll announce you."

Kurogane wondered idly if the princess was going to look like Tomoyo again as Ferio disappeared into the throne room. Hopefully not. One surprise like that was more than enough. They were exposed enough as it was: Syaoran looking around the palace interior in amazement and Sakura staying close to him, as a 'sibling' would. However, the blush that danced across Syaoran's cheeks at her closeness could betray their entire story.

"Okay, you guys can come in now." Ferio called, sticking his head back into the antechamber. Fai beamed grandly and 'presented' Syaoran and Sakura to the room, stepping inside to ensure it was safe (Kurogane presumed) and then stepping back to let them advance. The magician was good at politics.

-so was Sakura, who smiled sweetly as she spotted the blue-haired girl perched on the arm of a throne at the end of the room. The girl slipped gracefully to the ground and stood tall; she couldn't be less than five foot nine.

"Hello," Sakura said. The girl waved her forward, already smiling. That was good, Kurogane decided: the ambassador hadn't been threatening, this girl wasn't threatening, and they didn't appear to feel threatened by the feather-seekers. Everybody with a decent veneer of happy. Fai'd be thrilled.

"Hi!" the girl replied, waving. "I'm Umi. You must be Sakura and Syaoran!"

Fai entered after the two children, bowing to Umi dramatically.

"It is an honor to meet you your highness. I'm afraid word of your kingdom hasn't reached us before this, but we seek to remedy that fact."

_/How often can he switch into royal mode and not get sick of it?/ _Kurogane wondered without real interest, stalking into the throne room with his usual scowl. Umi hadn't responded to Fai's greeting, or if she had, had done so quietly. When she spotted Kurogane, she smirked a little, tilted her head with amusement, but she said nothing to call him forward. He moved forward just to watch her face change, getting more serious. Maybe they would learn about this 'receipt' thing now.

Fai was already babbling. "Master Ferio mentioned that we would be needing—"

"Excuse me."

Fai blinked, interrupted in the middle of the greeting by a tap on his shoulder. He turned to face a smiling, blonde girl who had curls drifting around her heart-shaped face. Kurogane had watched her steal quietly across the room's common without a sound and knew from the magician's expression that he hadn't heard her either.

"Hello. You're Fai, right?" she asked.

"Fai D. Flowright at your service, Princess Fuu," the blonde spouted, smiling with a practiced ease and sweeping a bow. Kurogane rolled his eyes. Come on. More politics? Something, _anything_ happen, stop the boredom from increasing…

Mokona popped it's head out of Sakura's dress, grinning with its little cat mouth.

"Hello, Princesses!" it cheered. The blue-haired royal stared at it in shock, blinking. Apparently, nothing like it existed here.

"Talking ice cream...?"

"Not ice cream!"

"Chef!" Umi clapped her hands once. A flour-covered, yet somehow still very tan girl stuck her head out of a doorway that Kurogane would have sworn hadn't been there before. He would also swear ninety percent of this castle was run on magic.

"Yeah? Hurry, my pie's life is at stake here, girl!" she said in a rush. In response, Umi pointed at Mokona.

"I want that à la mode. I never got a chance to try the last one."

The chef turned her attention to the creature and her big eyes widened. Mokona beamed at her and her eyes got correspondingly bigger. She seemed to be fumbling for something in the kitchen, her hand hidden by the wall.

"Don't let it run away!" she roared suddenly, leaping out into the kitchen with a clatter of pans and into the main room with a frying pan. "You're MINE, side dish!"

She bolted towards Mokona, Sakura clutching the creature to her and babbling about how it couldn't be eaten, it was their _guide_. Syaoran even moved into a defensive position in front of her.

However, before any intervention could be made, a giant swordsman appeared behind the chef and calmly disarmed her of the frying pan.

"We don't hit the guests with frying pans, Caldina. Not even for food. Or the princess."

"Lefarg-"

"Caldina." There was a warning tone in his voice and the girl slumped mock-dramatically against him. Before a moment had passed, she pushed away from him and an evil smirk danced across her face.

"But _you_ have to help me make that whipped topping then, since you're _ever_ so good at it."

"Of course." The man didn't look overly thrilled at this proposition. Closer to blushing, in fact. The chef grinned apologetically at Umi and held two fingers out.

"Sorry! Looks I got orders from higher up. Besides, looks kinda gamey, don't you think?"

"I _guess.._." Umi sighed dramatically and the chef and swordsman headed back into the kitchen, bickering happily about something. It didn't appear to bother the princess that she ignoring the travelers entirely. Fai tried again with the blonde princess at his side.

"Ferio said you had summoned us…?"

The blonde princess answered quickly, before Umi could. The blue-haired girl wore a sullen expression and had been about to say something.

"Ferio will show you to your rooms!" Fuu practically yelped. "Dinner is in a few hours, the wardrobe people will help you dress—"

"And Mr. Black will be changing out of that freakish black cloak," Umi interrupted, the sullen expression replaced by a devious one.

"I like my coat!" Kurogane snapped. Umi continued as if she hadn't heard, railroading over Fuu's protests.

"And there will be time for you to sleep before dinner, as Sakura looks as though she could use it. That's it."

True enough, the princess was far from steady on her feet, leaning against Syaoran heavily. She managed enough grace to stand on her own and curtsy politely, only to promptly lean back on Syaoran, murmuring a quiet apology. Fai tried to press the 'receipt' question a bit more, but bowed politely when he recognized they weren't going to tell him, and admonished Kurogane not to snarl as they exited the audience chamber.

#

Later, in their room, he explained why the children weren't lodging with them.

"They're _WHAT_?" Kurogane snapped.

"Well, they are 'siblings'. And it's not like they're going to do anything. Syaoran can keep his distance and Sakura-chan is perfectly innocent with none of those impure motives you've got floating around in your head." Fai sighed. "Honestly, Kuro-tan, such a mind!"

The ninja just stared at him in disbelief. "They're _rooming together_."

"Would you rather _I_ room with the princess? We can hardly leave her alone when we don't know what their 'receipt' process is, Kuro-Kuro." Fai flopped down on the bed he had dubbed 'his', glancing around the room. It was spacious, a bed at one side of the room and the other on the far side with a huge window that would let light stream into the room between the beds tomorrow morning. If the children's room was anything like this, Kurogane had nothing to worry about.

"You don't think…" Fai began, then broke off to thoughtfully stare out the window. It would be better to keep his worries about the receipt process private. He ran over the facts in his mind; though he was usually fairly decent at reading people, he had struggled to parse out why Umi would be so hostile to him and reticent to everyone else. They had been welcomed into the city by a high-ranking representative of the city guard. Greeted by its princesses without undergoing a security check, though there was certainly a security presence. They were being considered a threat, but a passive one. Why? Why a threat at all?

He became aware of Kurogane's teeth grinding after a few moments of thought. He let it go on for a minute, at which point he was fairly certain Kurogane was about to cross the room and strangle him manually.

"Finish the _sentence_, magician! Don't start a damn thought you won't finish!"

"It's nothing of consequence," Fai said, rolling back on the bed so he wouldn't have to look at his companion.

"You worried about the kids?"

"Oh, something far more silly than that, Kuro-chan!"

"_What, _then?"

"Princess Umi didn't say a word to me," Fai said, looking at the ceiling. It was some odd, rockish and crumbled texture. Umi's odd behavior was as close as he wanted to mention to his worries about the 'receipt'. She hadn't acknowledged his introduction and she hadn't wanted to notice he was even there. Her eyes darted around him carefully, focusing on Kurogane, Sakura, Syaoran, and that whole bit with Mokona.

"Maybe she doesn't like idiots," Kurogane muttered.

Fai shrugged easily. "Probably not. But she likes Kuro-chan, so maybe she does!"

Fortunately, there was a knock at the door which distracted both of them with tailoring questions and concerns for the next hour. It consisted largely of women with tuxedos and cummerbunds and other instruments of likewise torture advancing on Kurogane as the ninja made frantic and useless excuses about how "never, ever, in my life, will I ever, _ever,_ wear an outfit like that."

#

"I can't believe I'm wearing this," Kurogane muttered darkly as he skulked in a corner of the ballroom, tuxedo and all. Fai beamed next to him, not letting the fact that he was also encased in an uncomfortable white suit bother him.

"Cheer up! Everyone's smiling, eating and having fun. Sakura is beautiful," If anything, this last statement was the truest. Sakura was like an angel moving among the partygoers, smiling sweetly and getting along with everyone, Syaoran her devoted escort. There was polite card tournament going on at a few of the tables, something Ferio explained that Fuu had set up 'for charity' at each monthly feast, and Sakura was instantly everyone's lucky charm.

Kurogane snorted. "The princess being pretty has nothing to do with our situation."

"You have a point," Fai said, plucking idly at his sleeve. The magician had mellowed in the last few hours, playing party guest, and Kurogane was happy to see that the lacey floppy sleeves were finally starting to bother him as much as they bothered Kurogane. "And our hosts have been rather conspicuously evasive."

"Conspicuous—you mean how they've been to _everyone but us_?" Kurogane growled. "They think we're up to something."

"Perhaps we should set them at ease."

"Yeah, I don't think you do that."

The magician bent over, feigning embarrassment. "Don't be hurtful!"

The magician could be an idiot, yes, but Fai had to know this as well as Kurogane did. The ninja glanced at him. "You don't put them at ease. You know you don't. Those girls are terrified of you. Figure out why and everybody would feel better, magician."

"Maybe I will."

Kurogane was about to ask how when the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. It subsided after a few violent seconds and it was nothing but people looking around, confused, wine glasses in hand. Discussion but no panic.

Panic came when the giant slug came plunging through one of the ornate windows, sand pouring down its body in multiple rivers that got lost and reemerged from wrinkles in its skin. Huge in-set eyes prowling the room in bitter, angry incomprehension. Its mouth opened and a roar that shook the room rang out. Tables overturned and things broke as the partygoers fled. Kurogane took a second to glance at the doors to see if he could spot security but no one was running in. So much for Lefarge and Geo, all they had was- when he glanced at his companion, Fai had vanished from the wall.

The magician had moved faster than imagination and was currently on top of the sand monster, running toward its head with a long stick in his hands. Vaguely, Kurogane recognized it as one of the set that had leaned decoratively against the wall. The kind designed to break the instant they hit something. Fai didn't seem to believe so, bringing the object down on the sand monster's head with a resounding –WHUD-

Not so ceremonial after all. The thing wavered for a moment, then tried to bring its head up to look at its attacker. The look in its eyes was far from happy, but not tinged enough with pain to be subdued.

It opened its mouth to roar again and someone grabbed Kurogane's arm.

"Help him!" she insisted, tugging at his sleeve while Syaoran tugged at hers, trying to get her to safety. A good escort.

"Already on it. If he thinks I'm skipping a fight like this, the clown's got another think coming. Syaoran, get her _out of here_!" Kurogane dove forward, snatching another of the 'sticks' as he went. Ah, they were more like spears, once handled. That was good.

"BRAWHHHHH!" There came the groan of another sand monster, appearing behind the first and apparently just as interested in causing havoc. Kurogane dove at it, reverting to every ninja technique he'd ever been taught.

_'Pay attention to your surroundings and your enemy equally. Don't be caught off guard. Know the weaknesses of your weapon. And for heaven's sake, don't BREAK IT this time, Kurogane!'_

The ninja's eyes narrowed, focusing only on his target: the sand thing's head. Taking only a second to gather momentum, he leapt upwards. To its credit, the creature attempted to follow him with its eyes (and failed): Kurogane had the upper hand, preparing to land a fatal blow on the thing's head.

But then something happened he did not anticipate:

The creature rolled over.

Not _once_ had Kurogane come up against a creature who willingly showed its vulnerable stomach in battle. He had no choice but to run with the creature's movement, coming to rest on its belly and immediately realized why it had rolled over. The thing's stomach was like rock beneath his feet, hardly even twitching with his weight and he was no Fai. The head had to be its weakness and it was going to protect it at all costs.

And his entire world began to tilt again, punctuated by the tensing of the creature's stomach for another roar. Tactics. It meant to squish him. Well, that was an effective strategy.

"Kurogane!" There came a yell from somewhere off to the left, presumably where Fai was fighting and had spotted his predicament.

"I KNOW, I KNOW!" the ninja hollered in annoyance, running at an angle up the length of the monster, leaping to land on its head as the creature completed its flop. Kurogane lifted his staff high, bringing it down without hesitation on the creature's head, creating a loud THWACK of a noise throughout the hall.

He hit it again and again, until the monster's head began to sway, nod, then journey faster and faster towards the ground. Kurogane leapt off midway through its slow decent, landing easily several feet away. The glance back was purely to assure himself that the eyes would not open again, then to see how Fai was fairing.

It appeared Fai had not done nearly as well. He wasn't even _done_. The creature was wavering, but was in a rage, roaring to shatter glass and trying desperately to knock Fai off its back. The magician happened to look up from his current task, spotted Kurogane and waved.

"Hello, Kuro-chi!"

"Pay attention to what you're doing!" Kurogane snapped. Gripping the staff, he strode up to the sand monster and the thing didn't look at him -didn't _glance_ at him- as if he posed no threat whatsoever to its current state of attempting to get Fai off its back and wouldn't any time soon, thank you very much. Kurogane, who was used to intimidating anything with half a brain, didn't like getting this attitude from a giant slug.

Being in its Kurogane-oblivious state, the sand monster flattened itself to the ground, intending to throw itself against the wall and crush its unwanted passenger.

Kurogane looked down at the unprotected head with something close to disgust. This was too, too simple. He raised his staff and gave it the soundest of THWONKS: for ignoring him, for living this long, for terrorizing the stupid formal party and forcing him to fight in a _tuxedo_. Beh. Couldn't even move in this thing.

It went down like a child on ice and didn't rise again.

Kurogane looked up at the magician.

"You just lazy tonight?"

"Shame on you Kuro-pii, you've ruined your tuxedo," Fai said smugly from his perch atop the fallen monster. Not that Fai's outfit was in much better condition: although it still covered most of his frame and the only real problems were scratches, bloodstains and a missing sleeve. Its days of formal parties were over. Kurogane hadn't been worried about his outfit, so it was in a significantly worse state. He braced the staff over his shoulder.

"I wasn't thinking about it. More concerned with making sure you didn't die."

One of the great doors at the end of the hall opened and both men looked back at it. A hesitant head poked in, looking around the hall cautiously, then finally spotting the trio and the two dead monsters.

As if on cue, the doors burst open, people flooding back in to help sweep up the glass, pick up the broken things, help the 'heroes' as they were quickly proclaimed, and set up the tables again. Fai hopped off his sand monster, bowing deeply to the approaching princesses. Umi clutched a spear, as if she didn't know the fighting was over. Fuu tagged along at her side, unable to meet anyone's gaze, unable to believe this could have happened in their own castle.

"My apologies for the mess," Fai said.

"You almost died trying to save our castle," Fuu said after a moment, shooting a sharp glance at Umi when the other girl said nothing. "_We_ should be thanking you."

"You didn't think it important to mention we were sharing space with territorial sand slugs?" Kurogane quipped.

"They have never come this near or inside the castle before," Umi said sternly. "They must have had a reason. You know anything about that?"

The magician blinked, surprised. The question was addressed to him. "Me? No. Should I?"

There was no response, the girl merely leaned on one leg, bracing the spear against the floor for weight balance. "Hm."

"If there are no further questions, we should be getting back to our companions," Kurogane said, unable to let the silence stretch further between them.

"Of course. Find them and actually, head to bed. I've had our palace magician up the spells surrounding the city and we can have the structural damage fixed by late tonight. You won't be any use with that and I'm sure you're tired."

"We're fine," Kurogane said, a snap response.

"You sure you want to be fine?" Umi said—cryptically. "There's still the receipt process."

"And what's that, some ceremony? We can get through a ceremony."

She sighed dramatically. "I'm giving you an out. You seem to need it. Say you're too tired. Say you're injured. I don't care."

"Look, lady, I don't know who you think you are but-"

Kurogane's brilliant rebuttal was interrupted by the princess sighing (again), pulling off her thin gauzy glove, and slapping him with it. Didn't hurt, but he blinked.

"Fine. The receipt ceremony will take place in the third garden and _I've_ decided it will be tomorrow," Fuu took a quick breath of surprise and Umi glared at her. "—because you'll be exhausted tonight and I don't want you dying. Don't waste my good graces and be late. Bring a second."

She stalked off before Kurogane could sputter out an enraged word. Fai smiled idly and murmured something about how Kurogane got along with Sakura but other royalty was like cupping a bee in his ear.

"Well, now we know who has to participate," the magician noted on their way back to the room. "And it's only Kuro-Kuro, the best qualified of all!

"Shut up, you're my second. I'm hardly dragging the kid with me with that maniac."

"You don't like Umi?"

"Let's say I don't think the receipt ceremony's going to go smoothly." How could it? There was no way to mistake the expressions on Umi and Fuu's faces. There was no way the ceremony could go well when both princesses alternately hated and feared Fai.

#

… yup! Aheh. Thank you very much for reading this reworked chapter. Reviews are appreciated! :)


	3. Chapter 3: Ceremonial dueling

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

We're going into all new material now! …hopefully I don't mess the whole thing up as I write it. –already spotting inaccuracies- gah.

And thank you for the review, saint maglor. It's been a while, so I'm glad you're enjoying it.

#

You could choose much about a formal fight. The weapon you used, the person you fought, whether it was to the death or the pain or otherwise, but you couldn't choose if you didn't start the thing. Currently, the ceremony (which, Kurogane had discovered by asking around, was really a fight) had been pushed back three times—from morning to late noon to nine at nine. It stuck then.

By the time the full moon had pulled over the horizon, the four fighters stood in the third garden, a collection of swords beside them. Umi wore a suit of light-weight, blue-tinted armor and carried a sword half again as long as her arm. Ascot, the tall red-haired not-quite-boyfriend Ferio had mentioned, was serving as her second. When Kurogane had introduced Fai as his own second, the princess had scowled, throat tensing.

"Fine. Make sure he doesn't take a role before he needs to."

"You don't trust me?" Fai said pleasantly, handing Kurogane his sword. Umi watched his hands every moment and said nothing.

"Just keep an eye out for the giant slugs," Kurogane told him.

"But they're random encounters!" Fai intoned brightly, drawing back to stand next to Ascot.

"The hell's a random encounter?" the ninja asked, turning to face Umi, sword drawn.

"Princess Fuu was telling me, apparently it's when—oh, attacking!"

Kurogane moved to block it immediately, though he had seen the move coming a while off. Umi scowled again and it irked him.

"Have to signal less if you're going to ambush," he taunted gently. The blue-haired girl set her lips in a thin line and began a straightforward attack. They traded blows—she wasn't awful—until their seconds were thoroughly bored.

"I imagine your immigration level is low," Fai said, watching the two battle.

"She doesn't do a duel for everyone's receipt ceremony," Ascot said. "Honestly, it's been a while and it seemed most appropriate for your friend."

"Ah, well, if that's the case. What happens if Kuro-nin wins, by the way?"

"No one on our world that she's challenged has defeated her." Ascot smiled to himself. "No one that she's challenged."

"The special friend of your cook?"

"Lafarge is very much exempt. If Kurogane wins, Umi will determine whether or not she wants you in the country. She was doing that anyway, but the battle… clears her head. Like I said, she wanted to fight and so did your friend. Ah, we may need to step in."

Fai looked. "No, he's about to—see?"

"I didn't think anyone could do that without dropping the sword!"

"Kuro-chan can~ ah, but you might need to help there—"

"No, she's—ah. I'm not sure we approved the use of magic. Umi?"

"Worth it to see Kuro-nin gagged and frozen. Wheet-woo, Umi is amazing!"

"So you'll step in," Umi said evenly. The magician blinked, glanced at Kurogane, who was trying to remove the invisible binding. Before Umi could come at him with that fiendishly long blade, he was behind her.

"It's really not fair to use magic just to switch to me," he said as Umi whirled.

"Why not? You're the one I want to fight and if the ninja wasn't so good with a blade, I would have challenged you as the biggest threat."

"I saved your ballroom!" Fai protested mocking, ducking under her backhanded swing in a sly retreat towards Kurogane. If Umi had used the immobilization weave he thought she had, it should be relatively easy to…

"Clef said you would do good things and bad, that we needed to figure out for ourselves what kind of threat you posed. That you could bring down all Hikatsu with your lies if we didn't make you change."

"Very open-minded person, this Clef," Fai said, keeping his tone light enough to belay suspicion. He was almost to Kurogane. "And what did he propose you do, to me?"

The comment was only to stall her while he pulled apart the magical weave binding Kurogane: it was an acquired skill to pull apart someone else's spell without using any magic of his own and he'd had time to hone it. He then stumbled against Kurogane, intentionally bringing them both down. The ninja scrambled to his feet, lowering the sword. Umi didn't imitate the movement.

"I'm bored," she said.

"Not an excuse," Kurogane replied.

"But Kuro-rin, it's late and the lady is bored. It would be polite to—"

"If she and I bow out, you and Ascot will be duking it out," Kurogane said coldly and shouldered his weapon. "C'mon girlie, finish what you started."

"On the contrary, I already have," Umi said. "I hereby deny you access to Hikatsu, on the grounds that your friend plans to bring some doom on us."

"Doom?" Kurogane said incredulously; at the same time, Fai said "ooh, really? Can you be more specific?"

It was getting colder and Kurogane would have preferred to continue the conversation inside, but he let Fai launch into polite protest.

"I would never do anything to harm this country, Princess."

"You can't prove that," the girl said sternly. "We do not allow everyone access here or we would be overrun with threats. You are a casualty of the rule."

"But we are travelers, seeking feathers that contain the memories of one of our party." He took a step forward, then another. "We've already identified that there's a feather near this place. You cannot condemn all of us for—"

He vanished. Kurogane already had his sword drawn, but didn't move. Fai had a habit of getting into problems bigger than himself and he wasn't about to leap into a battle on this one.

"Where did you send him."

Umi flipped her hair; she wasn't comfortable with this situation. "A neighboring world, which will return all of you to your journey without a detour in Hikatsu. But we have sent the feather with him. You've no reason to return. Sakura and Syaoran will be coming with you—"

"If your magician can manage that," Kurogane said dryly. Ascot seemed about to fall over and his voice was thin and reedy when he spoke.

"Just starting the spell. It catches you, him, the pair, and the creature. Umi just wanted to speak to you first."

Umi took up the conversation. "You have to tell Fai something and I wanted him gone as soon as possible. Without this information, you will be trapped on that world permanently."

"And what's that?"

"Your 'Fai' must get you out himself. There are other measures in place to assure this. If we simply let you go away, he would return here and I don't like putting Ascot through all this."

"I'm fine—"

"Sit down already!" both Umi and Kurogane snapped. Ascot obediently sat down.

"Fai wouldn't hurt your world," Kurogane muttered. "And he doesn't have magic to get us out of some prison world, so if that was your plan—"

"The sand monsters have never come as close as they did last night. Not til you came. Clef said Fai possessed great magic once, more than enough power to summon them if he wanted."

"Yeah, possessed. He's got nothing. We have nothing."

"But they came," Umi insisted. "The monsters came and gave you an excuse to rip up a perfectly good tuxedo and have an admittedly good time killing things in my ballroom. If he did it, or anything else dangerous, under some idea that it would make someone else happy… we have a fragile world, Kurogane. It's been broken before."

Kurogane grunted. There was nothing he could say to dissuade them. "Just don't forget to send the kids and chew toy along."

"We haven't. Good luck."

A three-fingered wave and the world was engulfed in blackness. Not unconsciousness— Kurogane stood in the dark, took a breath and smelled the dank cold-wet-underground scent of a cave. As his eyes adjusted, he could see spots of daylight through cracks in the rock-ceiling above. It was a different time here so it was indeed a different world. Great. It was only a matter of time until something like this happened, he thought, and started following the light.

For the first time in a while, he hoped Fai had some magic kept in reserve. Otherwise, they could be down here quite a while.

#

Annnnd they're off Hikatsu, and I managed to solve a plot conundrum in my head to preserve continuity. Yay, experimentation!

Reviews are appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4: Alone down here

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

To Shandrial: Timeline-wise, this was originally written to sit right after they went to Chun'yan's world (so around book four-ish), which is so early in their journey it's not even funny. They are operating on basic, _basic_ knowledge of one other. I checked my roommate's copies of the manga and I did have some things off. I've done my best to fix that in this chapter (and will try to pay more attention in future chapters). Thank you for mentioning it and forcing me to, heh, do the research I should be doing. And for the detailed review too!

To Death-Sama01: Thank you for the review. I do plan to plow through it, as best I can and I'm glad you're enjoying.

#

Kurogane's lofty intention to throttle information out of the magician the moment he saw Fai was still an intention three hours later. By contrast, the kids hadn't been difficult to find. Syaoran was clutching the unconscious princess protectively, perched seven feet up on a ledge like a bodyguard on a budget. It had been as high as he could get, holding her. The two had been undisturbed the whole time except for…

"Tremors," Syaoran said as they got down, Kurogane carrying the princess. "Three or four of them."

"Think this world's going to collapse?"

"In my world the land rested on what we called 'tectonic plates.' Big underground slabs of rock that could shift location. And they set on something called 'faults,' which trembled sometimes and they would move the plates around."

"You think this is like that?"

Syaoran mulled over the answer. "Whenever the ground trembled, we heard a rush of… something. I can't call it a noise, but something really distant and underground with us." He looked up at Kurogane. "And that's why I got up there."

"Great," the ninja muttered. "Well, the short version of why we're here is that the ruling council thinks Fai is going to doom them all, so they shipped us off to a secondary world."

The kid got right to the heart of the matter. "What about the feather?"

"Came with us. Not that anyone knows where, or why they didn't just give it to us and tell us to go, or half a dozen other things it'd be handy to know."

"Like where Fai is?"

"That'd be one of them," Kurogane said dryly. "Incidentally, have you ferreted any more about Fai's magic out of him? Don't stop to think about it, we should keep moving if we want to find him."

Syaoran fell into step beside the ninja, allowing him to keep carrying Sakura as they headed further into the dark cave. 'Allowing' was really the proper word for the kid's behavior: if he had the strength, he would be carrying Sakura himself but under theses circumstances, Kurogane was just more qualified to shield her.

Syaoran spoke after considering the question for a moment or two. "Well, first he said he didn't have any. Then… Yuko said he had magic, but he won't use it without the tattoo. And he says it's not strong enough to help with anything." Syaoran glanced over at Kurogane, puzzled. "Is this helping?"

"Nah, already knew most of it. The guy's a locked book."

Syaoran looked away, not quickly enough to hide his smile. "_Locked_?"

"Shut up, some books have keys."

"Why is this important?" Syaoran asked as they turned down yet another unfamiliar corridor. "About Fai."

"He's gotta get us out of here."

The kid was silent for a couple of seconds. "It has to be Fai?"

"Guess we'll find out how much magic he's really got," was Kurogane's only reply. Continuing the conversation wouldn't improve morale and he had worked with enough groups of people to know gossiping about another member of the team could destroy trust and cooperation faster than anything short of public betrayal.

Several minutes later, so the kid wouldn't get suspicious, he suggested they split up. Kurogane would keep Sakura and presumably Mokona. Fai would come with Syaoran even if the two couldn't understand one another and Kurogane could carry the princess all day with little effect. Surprisingly, Syaoran agreed to the plan, clutched Sakura's hand a moment as if he was going to say something then, reluctantly, dropped it. Kurogane pretended to see nothing of the brief exchange.

The boy reluctantly trekked off, after explaining the system of markings he would make with rocks on the ground so Kurogane could find him again. It took more than a minute to explain.

"Ridiculously complicated," Kurogane determined and handed the boy a dagger. Dig it into the walls like an S. No, no one will care. Good. See you.

Once he'd gone, Kurogane checked the princess's pulse with careful fingers, something Syaoran had been warring with himself _not_ to do. Her deep, deep sleep rattled the kid and Kurogane was sure the kid had almost convinced himself she was injured. That thought didn't need to be affirmed. Her pulse beat faint but regular.

If Fai had been around, he could've made Syaoran realize nothing was wrong. So where the hell was he?

The ninja took another curve, following the wall. Somewhere deep in the ground, something trembled, and he stumbled against the wall, clutching Sakura and thinking suddenly about rattling plates and faults. The earth calmed itself after several tense seconds and he moved on, listening to the sudden silence. Syaoran wasn't kidding about the strange nature of the silence. It made him feel wrong to be going down, closer to the thing that shook the world. There were breaks and gaps even in the floor of the cave where the earth had driven the rock apart. He needed all the light he could get to avoid the gaps.

"Fai?" he called as the path split suddenly, one half slanting downwards into a lightless tunnel, the other up into the light.

He hadn't expected an answer and didn't get one.

"Nuisance," he muttered and carved a 'K' on the upward-heading path. It felt wrong to leave markers—betraying something of his ninja heritage—but Syaoran would never find him without it. The princess was starting to get heavy, so he slowed after another half an hour. Light still filtered down cheerfully from above. Longer days maybe? It felt like three or four a.m. Probably because he hadn't slept.

"Where'd you go, you tricky—"

"Were you about to call me something, Gane-chan?" a voice came from below.

Kurogane sat very still and thought about throttling Fai.

"_Useless_ maybe. How long have you been trailing me?"

"Kuro-chan is fairly heavy," the voice came, again from below, "so maybe an hour?"

Something below the floor stirred and Kurogane drew back quickly, setting the princess at a safe difference. He watched as the magician pulled himself up from a shadowed collection of rocks and floor. When he saw Kurogane staring, he poked his foot into the gap he had just climbed out of. It vanished. "There wasn't a hole big enough before."

Right, he'd known that. "Didn't have to pull yourself out like some damned _spider_. You've been stumbling around down there an hour, following me?"

Fai was poking gently at Sakura now. "She hasn't woken?"

"No. Mage, did you find a way out, before you found me?"

"I arrived down there," Fai said, pointing at the gap. "The first time I realized there was another level is when I heard your footsteps." He looked up as if surprised to see sky, or a ceiling, at all, though the light made him flinch and blink with its newness. "It's morning still?"

"Different world." Four hours underground in the dark? Kurogane imagined that he would have gone insane, bashing any wall in order to get out, and the tremors on top of that. "You think you can use any of your magic to get us out of this?"

"Sorry~"

Kurogane turned to head back the way he'd come. "You didn't even _think _about it."

"Kuro-chan, you've asked me to use magic each time we've been in trouble." Fai interlocked his fingers behind his head, easily navigating the darkened floor. "I'm starting to think you just want me around to pick up women!"

"Yeah, well this time the women want you getting us out of the cave. You're the only one allowed to get us off this world, which means you have to find the feather or use whatever magic you've got left to get us out."

It was rewarding to see the magician actually _thinking_ about this statement. Less rewarding to hear him say: "Then I'll just have to find the feather."

"But if you have magic—"

Fai changed the subject quickly. "Where is Syaoran?"

"I let him go look for you."

The magician's voice grew puzzled then. They were only half-lit by the light overhead but his tone was definitely concerned. "Kuro-chan isn't doing well playing with teams again. Why would you leave him?"

"Faster with only one party member carrying our attractive deadweight. Anyway, we've got a method of tracking him."

"That's not very pleasant—"

"Pleasant? We're marching around a prison camp cave after being booted off a world and dependent on your sack of skills to get us out of it and you want _pleasantry_? Not gonna happen. Think, Fai. There's gotta be some piece of tracking magic, some loophole—hell, I don't care if it just gets us out from underground."

Fai hummed. It was infuriating.

"Back on Hikatsu, those girls were scared of you. You know the reason for that?" Kurogane said. The humming stopped. Behind him, he heard Fai stop walking altogether, pausing beneath one of the sun-lit gaps.

"…perhaps Syaoran got up and out," the magician murmured.

Kurogane replied without looking. "No, he would've marked it. We keep going this way—"

The magician wasn't listening: Fai 'whistled' and, using Kurogane's shoulder as a springboard, hopped up to grab hold of the ledge. Hanging for a moment, he pulled himself up and over the rocky cliff.

"Hey!" Kurogane yelled. The blonde poked his head back over the edge of the gap, blocking the light.

"Just checking! Kuro-chan doesn't need to worry!"

"Don't you dare leave us down here, mage! I told you Syaoran would use the system, get back down here!"

"Leave you?" Fai was visibly taken aback. "What made you think of that?"

"We got booted off a world 'cause a couple of women thought you would doom their country and you won't say why! Get _down_ here."

Fai shrugged, but his expression was enigmatic and somber. "Everyone has the potential to be a threat. Now, I can't possibly get Kuro-Kuro up here because he's too heavy—"

"You sure about that?"

"Yes." Fai couldn't sound annoyed when circumstances weren't lethal. Hell, he hardly sounded so much as sober when they _were_, but he sounded… perplexed. "I can see a big hole over there. Head…" he checked the sun and pointed. "Sou~th! Maybe there's a stair for you. I'll check!"

"There's no tunnel heading that way—Fai!"

The blonde vanished. Cursing Fai (not for the first time by far), Kurogane shoulders the princess and moved down one of the promising tunnels, hoping to find a bend south before he passed Fai's 'hole.' He'd met everyone now and learned _nothing_ about the magician's plans to get them out.

#

Fai could recognize his own suspicious behavior. Being skilled at lying meant you recognized your own strange behavior, as well as everyone else's, and this desire not to be around Kurogane was a bad sign. He couldn't even pin down what was wrong with himself, what the women had seen in him that he couldn't recognize in himself.

It wasn't the magic. They couldn't know about the magic, though being without the marking was finally starting to jitter him. Magic grew in little, itty bitty steps, that inched out of his ability like weeds. He hadn't called the sand monsters—even to get Kurogane in a better mood, that was a stretch.

But he hadn't been able to resist the urge to make the ceremonial staffs strong enough to bear Kurogane's energetic handling. And he couldn't in good conscience say that it _wasn't_ his action that prevented anyone in the ballroom from being seriously injured by falling glass.

And dissolving Umi's magic during the fight—well, that might have used a little magic but _not his own_. A voice in the back of his head kept needling at him with each use, reminding him how stupid he was being and the other part reminded him that it didn't matter as long he wasn't at home and no one could get a hold of him.

But it did matter. _It didn't_. But it did.

He tapped his own forehead lightly. None of that was really important right now. Finding the feather was important. Venturing towards the 'hole' he had pointed out to Kurogane, he kept one ear to the ground for the sound of Syaoran trekking about the tunnels.

Nothing. It would be so easy to reach out and try to find the boy magically, but he didn't. Self-control. It had been so long; he probably didn't know how (or so he kept telling himself as he stepped carefully over the thin-ceilinged rock plane.

The feather though. It was going to be impossible to find that without magic, his or Mokona's. _Somebody's_. They had no provisions here, there was no sign of civilization, and there was a very good chance they could all die of starvation/thirst if they didn't find a) people or b) the feather that would get them out of here.

Sakura was still asleep since she had been pushing herself all through Chun'yan's world. This detour needed to be hurried along.

He closed his eyes and reached out carefully for the feather's presence…

#

Several minutes later, Kurogane had unwelcome company. Mokona had yawned dramatically and fidgeted its way out of one of Sakura's voluminous sleeves.

"Nyaaa~ Mokona had a good nap!" It blinked around with big curious eyes which retracted with the dim lighting. "We aren't on Hikatsu!"

"Yup. Apparently you're not the only one who can move us between worlds." He glanced up at the nearest gap. "So, if I throw you up there—"

"Where is Syaoran? Fai? Mokona needs to call Yuko! She won't know~!" It continued whining about how it was dark and scary and Kurogane partially tuned it out.

"No, we're good without Yuko. Hikatsu just didn't like us."

"But the feather!" Mokona keened. "Sakura won't be complete without all the feathers!"

"Shut up, I need to think."

"I'm going to call Yuko—"

"STOP YAMMERING!" It was the lack of sleep, the magician doing whatever he pleased, the princess not waking, and the utter stupidity of the situation: Kurogane shouted.

Nothing happened for a moment (well, Mokona did shut up), then the tremors began. They should've passed, he kept expecting them to, bracing his feet on the floor and waiting as granite dust fell. The air grew thick with it, the tremors continuing, and Kurogane flattened himself against the wall again, coughing. The tremors _kept_ coming until actual pieces of the ceiling began to fall. The ninja pulled the princess close, almost scrambling to stay against the wall. They were losing part of the floor too, slabs dropping to where Fai had been.

Somewhere above, there was a yelp, followed by a thud several feet further along the cave. The tremors finally abated but Kurogane didn't dare call out again. Instead, someone whined.

"Kuro-chan's voice is so loud!"

"You hurt, mage?"

Long pause. "No….. keep going south. I'll bring Syaoran back to the stairs, if you can just get there. Really, Gane, it was silly of you to lose him!"

"Hang on, we'll come to you," Kurogane began and stepped away from the wall. The ground shook itself again like a wary dog and he drew back to the wall. And the magician wondered _why_ he was suspicious, Kurogane thought as he waited for the tremors to pass. It was an aftershock, passing quickly, bringing down no more of the ceiling.

"Mage?" he called, after it was over.

"Keep going. If you come for me, you'll lose south and I can't keep checking these things for you, Kuro-pii!"

"Hang on." Kurogane glanced at Mokona, who was gleefully and stupidly bouncing around the cave. "We're going to try and call the Time Witch, get her to offer us a tactical retreat. If you ask, we might be able to play it off as you saving us."

"I don't think that'll work, but nice try and thank you very much for playing!"

"Who asked what you thought? It's what we're doing."

The wheedling voice turned practical. "I have to be the one to get us out of here. And _I_ say we go south to the stair which might be there. I'm not telling the lovely Time Witch anything and if it isn't me telling her, it won't work. That's the way it is. And I'm going to get Syaoran now."

Kurogane didn't even have to remind Fai not to come back without the kid. If nothing else, they were a team and Fai had seen enough combat not to leave someone behind.

"Find him before it gets dark."

"Of course. Move fast."

Kurogane had already planned to, but the mage insisting on it—that was odd. He delayed a moment longer.

"You worried about something?"

"I hardly think the tremors are a lullaby, Kuro-kuro. I don't think we're alone down here."

"Then at least take Mokona—"

"You'll need him to communicate with Sakura, if she wakes, and I won't. Now run along before she wakes."

Like punctuation, the floor shuddered again and something in the most distant of distances inhaled deeply. Before Mokona could react or Fai could leave, the ninja picked Mokona up by its head and hurled the thing up out of one of the light patches—and was rewarded by the creature's obnoxiously loud squeal passing over— over—over—until it hit bottom, exactly where Fai's voice had been.

"Fai~iii! Kuro-nii threw me!" It didn't sound all that upset and Kurogane smirked, knowing that it had hit its mark.

"You need Mokona!" Fai snapped and it _was_ a snap. The realization both pleased and worried Kurogane: More of the former-snapping meant the other fellow was taking something seriously for once in his life, but Fai stressed made him wonder how bad the situation really was, or if the mage planned to get back to the group at all.

"Then make sure you get him back to the stair with us!" Kurogane called and started south (because there was a tunnel in the direction Fai had pointed now), ignoring the magician's taunts. He was learning how to handle the magician and now they would both be safe and, hopefully, both hurry.

#

Again, thank you for the comments! I'm working off of a handwritten notebook (in which the story is complete) and editing as I go. There will probably be…. mmmm, something like twelve chapters. It isn't terribly long and I'm trying to keep it as unobtrusive with the canon as possible. Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: Doing just fine

Thank you for the responses, Shandrial, Guest, and klaine4ever!

(And yeah, Nathan Fillion's amazing. )

Most of my Saturday went into this chapter, so hopefully it's enjoyable. The plot's changed from what I originally wrote by a bit, but it should be okay. Also, I may be able to wrap this up much sooner than I planned.

#

It wasn't hard to play the game. In minutes, Fai had Mokona on Syaoran's trail and thinking the whole thing was a wonderful and planned adventure-gift from the lovely princesses at Hikatsu, who had never meant them anything but good and they had hidden the feather here, as a sort of game.

No, they hadn't told Kurogane because that wouldn't have been any fun, would it? He was so cute when he got really angry. Mokona's fixation on how they were taunting the ninja even now gave Fai more time to think about how they could get out of here before they started suffering from the lack of food, water, and proper sleep.

Ahead, Mokona slowed. It didn't say anything, just peered over the lip of a vast, deep cavern until it could spy the darkness at the bottom. The ceiling here was closed to the sky, which made it very dark indeed, and the cliff they stood on would require a climb down of some thirty feet to reach the floor. Fortunately, the wall was scored with clefts and handholds; as if something had been rammed into it, creating dozens of breaks in the wall. The stone of Mokona's forehead pulsed faintly red.

"I suppose he's down there?" Fai asked brightly.

"Yeaaaaaah," it said, with distinct displeasure. "But it's dark and scary!"

"Well, there's no reason for Mokona-chan to go in, if you can make the crystal bright enough for me to see by," Fai said, taking pity on the thing. It nodded, almost guiltily, and the stone brightened until it cast shadows almost to the far wall of the cave. It continued to brighten even as Fai swung himself over the edge. There were few handholds, but the magician was good at climbing. Sometimes, he had gotten as high as thirty feet up the tower before—he shook off the memory. Old memories. Old, old, old, and they had no place here. This was a climb _down_, in a _cave_, to rescue Syaoran.

Nothing to do with anything he'd come from.

The light behind him was bright enough to see by, shades of red playing eerily over the rocks. Kind of hellish really, Gane-chan would have enjoyed it. Then he saw Syaoran. The boy was in a cleft of the rock, probably fifteen feet up on the far wall of the cave. The climbing had apparently been as friendly to Syaoran as it had to Fai.

The magician was about to call out when he saw that the boy had his sword out and was clearly facing off against something Fai wasn't at an angle to see. Shutting his mouth, Fai dropped to the floor, and turned. Looming over Syaoran was a worm that could easily reach the ceiling and was as thick around as an oak tree. It would have taken Kurogane hours of sawing to get through it even with Ginryuu.

And Fai was unarmed. This was unfortunate.

Syaoran was looking directly at him now, attention having gone from the red light, to Mokona, to whoever Mokona was shining this light on. He knew better than to yell out Fai's name, but he looked a little more at ease and Fai wished there was more reason for him to _be_ at ease. _Wait til he figures out I'm more of a hindrance than a help_…

Then again, he was never really _unarmed,_ was he? Again, magic nudged at him, playful as a puppy and twice as helpful.

Fai scanned the room for additional threats he should be aware of—and found them. More worms, the same size as the one threatening Syaoran, luxuriated (apparently asleep) in the corner. He counted three heads and hoped that was all there was.

The worm coiled and uncoiled the lower part of its body, weaving its head like a snake before baring its—good heavens, why would anyone give a worm teeth_?_- _fangs_ and howling at the boy. In the cavernous area, the sound went around and around the walls, losing none of its power, and Fai checked the boy's Fai staggered as the floor rippled beneath his feet. Syaoran, taking the full brunt of it, stumbled, free hand going to his head. The cleft beneath him wobbled dangerously and the worm swelled for another roar before the first had even died away.

The second blasted Syaoran off the ledge altogether. Fai fought for his footing, lunging towards where the boy was going to land. Syaoran made no effort to save himself, skidding down the wall until he came to rest, on his side, at its base. All sound in the cavern was muted and Fai dropped next to the boy, seeing blood trickling from both ears. He didn't move. Above, the worm snuffled, trying to relocate its prey.

The others still hadn't moved.

Fai shook Syaoran. "Up."

Nothing. Fai pressed his fingers to the boy's throat and felt the pulse after a solid _minute_, as the worm snuffled around them. He realized only later that he had done some minor magic there without even thinking about it. This was a creature used to stunning and then finding its prey.

The flickering pulse kept going in and out, gaps spanning longer and longer between beats. There were broken bones, internal injuries, nothing they would be able to fix even if they could get out of this cave; _Syaoran was dying and it was his fault. _

Fai's first instinct was to run then, if he couldn't fix it. He wasn't to return to Kurogane and Sakura without Syaoran: more than that, he _couldn't_. Syaoran had brought them together, it was Syaoran's quest they were following. Without him, Mokona might refuse to take them to any more worlds. If they were stuck here, because of Fai, the magician was certain Sakura would die, and Kurogane—well, Kurogane would probably kill Fai for some reason or another. Then Mokona would take itself home.

They weren't close enough to depend on anything else.

So he put his hands to Syaoran's chest and let the shield around them drop as he put the bones and organs back in place. He was the greatest magician he'd ever met, barring Yuko. He had the power to influence great sleeps and dispatch monsters and make simulacras like Chii and he could _fix_ this. And once he had, he snatched up the boy's sword, imbued it with lightning for good measure, and went to town on all four of the worms.

When he finished, the cave was a new liquid color. He could feel the tremendous expenditure of magic hollowing him out and he waved at Mokona limply. It was more important now than ever to be himself.

"Mokona-chan! Don't you have some wings we can use?"

"Oh!" it chirruped happily, unfolding a pair of ostentatiously large wings and zooming down to the pair. Never mind that this probably could have saved them a lot of grief before: they had remembered now. Mokona's presence at the cave floor made the corners of the cave clear now: scattered piles of bones littered the floor, along with shattered bits of floor. The worms had lived down here because it formed a basin: food came to them. And every time (or almost every time), they stunned their prey, they caused another tremor. And the worms, too big to die, moved on or moved down further into the basin.

"…Fai?" Syaoran asked, the whisper very quiet and careful. "What happened to the worm?"

"You slipped. Then the worms decided to spontaneously redecorate the cave," Fai said and refused to elaborate beyond that. "Now, I don't think Mokona-chan can carry us both up, but it'll be kind enough to take you up."

The boy tried to push himself up. "I can make it—"

"I don't think so~ you hit your head."

Syaoran squinted up at him, vision beginning to return. "But you're—covered in blood."

"Just the lighting, it makes things look more dramatic. Now, Mokona-chan, please take Syaoran up?"

"Aye!" It cheered and, launching itself to cling to the young man's head, flapped its wings. They had surprisingly powerful lift, for what looked like decorative appendages, and got the pair at least several inches upwards before the next downflap.

"You're doing great, Mokona! Wheee, you're amazing!" Fai cheered it along the trip, as the creature was obviously working hard to get them both safely to the ledge Fai had climbed from. When they landed, the magician applauded.

"Good job!"

Mokona bounced over to the edge unhappily, meek. "But Mokona can't get you…"

Fai had suspected as much. The long wings were angelic and very pretty but not built for heavy lifting. Not that Fai was what anyone could call heavy lifting—Kurogane's frustration had proved several times that the magician was throwable, kickable, carriable, and—

"My, we do have an abusive relationship, don't we…" Fai mused as he meandered over to the steep cliff wall. "It's all right, Mokona!" he called up, reaching for the first grip that came to hand, testing it. "I can climb up."

If he could convince his body not to fly away. The impact of using all that magic at once had left him considerably more drained than he was climbing down here; the idea of climbing the wall now was much like attempting a marathon with a fever of a hundred and three.

"Start back, I'll be along in a bit," Fai said, sounding like this would be nothing more than a stroll in a very steep park.

"We're not leaving you," Syaoran said, in a voice of such solemnity that Fai had to look up at the ledge. Syaoran was looking down at him, backlit by Mokona's light, expression impossible to read. Fai attempted a smile.

"Really, you should get back to the princess—"

"We're not."

That was the end of it. Fai kept climbing, now feeling vaguely guilty that he was keeping the boy from where he wanted to be. He had to get them out of here soon. There was no guarantee that there weren't more worms, more caverns, or more, previously undisclosed, threats. With this thought, he sped up his climbing and lunged the final few feet separating him from the waiting pair. He needn't have—Syaoran was close enough to pull him up but— well, he didn't think of things like that.

"Are you all right?" Syaoran asked, because Fai had vaulted himself onto the plateau and sat, balanced on the balls of his feet, trying to regain that elusive thing called air.

Fai nodded and drew himself up. The last of his energy went into the normality of the statement.

"Let's go see what Gane-chan is up to!"

#

"You both look like hell," was the first thing Kurogane thought, so it was the first thing he told them. The magician shrugged blithely, not explaining the fact that he was carrying Syaoran's sword, partially covered in blood, and looked like he had been doing laps in a red paint bucket.

"Kuro-chii, you say the nicest things," he said, taking a seat on the natural bench in the cave wall.

"'s the truth."

"Sometimes it isn't all that important to tell the truth," Fai said, looking up at the stairway before them. "That's our exit?"

"Any of you actually hurt?" Kurogane asked. Fai shook his head quickly, Syaoran less quickly, with a darting glance at the magician first. Great, Kurogane thought, the magician was keeping more secrets.

"Yeah, that's our exit," he said, answering the question. "We've been up and down it already. There's nothing up there that looks like a gate."

The magician nodded thoughtfully, rolled his shoulders, and skipped up the stone staircase. Calling it a staircase was an exaggeration—it was step-shaped rocks, recognizable as a stair only if you squinted and _knew_ they were there already and where to look for them. The first time he went up, Kurogane had left Sakura at the bottom, simply for fear he would fall and hurt her, and Fai was _skipping_ up them.

"Whoops!"

"Be careful, you idiot!"

Miraculously, the magician made it to the surface without breaking so much as a nail. He stood there in the gap, surveying the unbroken expanse of rock that Kurogane had already familiarized himself with, practically memorized. It was a dead end: a flat plain of rock that stretch for miles in all directions like a sea. Even if there had been something to see, it would be obscured now, as it was starting to get dark. Since it had been night when they left Hikatsu and morning when they got here, that was almost twenty-four hours of adventuring fun for both Fai and Kurogane.

And they certainly couldn't sleep down here.

"Wait here," 'kids' he mentally added as he started up the stairs. _Daddy and Crazy Mommy have to figure out how to get off the rock planet before we're killed by a cave in or eaten by whatever's making the earthquakes._ Dang it, Fai and Mokona were getting to him.

Fai was still standing there, looking at the flat plain. Kurogane stood next to him.

"You knew this was what was up here," Kurogane said. "So you had to have a plan."

The magician didn't answer for a long second, his mind entirely elsewhere. Finally, he shook himself. "Hm?"

"Your plan. When you saw this."

"Oh. The stair should have been a gateway," Fai said thoughtfully. "It's the only plan that makes sense."

"Maybe it got shaken loose by the tremors."

"That's possible." Pause. "Has Sakura woken at all?"

"Not yet." And Kurogane waited for the plan, which didn't come. Fai appeared to have forgotten his presence entirely, blinking at the horizon though it was getting too dark to see anything. Kurogane hoped the magician wouldn't announce that they had to head across this plain to try and find civilization—the ceiling had showed no signs of being thick enough to bear their weight, beyond Fai's and there were miles of caves below.

"So, the plan?"

"I haven't one." The magician sounded less happy than usual about it.

"Well, Mokona can manually open a gate, can't it?"

"We would need to contact Yuko, explain the situation, and if I'm not the one to get us out of here, I don't know what will happen. The tremors were enough of a concern." Fai was still looking out across the plain. "Maybe we can send Mokona off to find the feather—"

"You realize none of us will be able to communicate if we lose that thing? You really think that's a good idea, mage?"

"I—"

"If there was a time to use magic, it's _now_."

"_I can't_." The magician realized he was snapping in the very middle of doing so, resulting in a strangled cessation of the tone, shifting upwards. Kurogane lifted an eyebrow.

"I think your shimmery personality's breaking, mage."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, now you're just being a _girl_. "

"Kuro-puu," It was directly girlish now, the magician taking the jibe and running with it. "Please go stand somewhere else. I need to think."

He grunted and obliged, heading towards nothing in particular but refusing to take those stairs yet. He would just have to come back up and check on the magician again if/when Fai didn't do anything. He allotted the magician maybe five minutes before he bothered him again. He strolled with exaggerated drama until the five minute marker came up.

"Magician. It's in your damn name."

"Kuro-chan—"

"You could find that feather at least—"

"I _can't_!"

-And tremors radiated through the fragile ground, harsher this time, and Kurogane heard the shouts of the children below long before he realized the ground beneath his feet was coming apart. The magician hesitated only a second, then he was leaping from shattering pillar to pillar towards him and Kurogane shouted at him.

"Get the kids!"

In response, Fai shoved him roughly backwards, onto a strangely stable platform, then motioned for him to follow. The magician was muttering something continually, expression detached, as if he wasn't really here. Beyond questioning, Kurogane followed Fai, the magician leading a game of follow-the-collapsing-roof across the plain until they were back at the stair and the tremors cleared. Around them, the plain had literally fallen to pieces with only scattered ledges of rock still standing. The stair remained, as well as other pillars, but the plain as they had known it was gone, replaced by rubble and an air so thick with granite dust they could hardly breathe.

Kurogane bent at the top of the stair, coughing badly, as Fai immediately began the descent into the cave. He couldn't shout a warning through the dust and he heard Fai fall.

No, that was inaccurate. He heard Fai laugh _after _ the fall. The air was too dusty to see yet, hardly settled enough to breath, so Kurogane pulled the collar of his coat across his mouth and yelled through a throat thickened with dust.

"Fai!"

"Aheh. Ow."

"How far did you fall?" He began his own careful descent, scooting along from a sitting position. It wasn't dignified, but no one could see him anyways. Couched, careful laughter and oblique expressions of pain were all the magician would give him by way of an answer. By the time he found Fai, he was expecting the magician's _head_ to be wrong way around – probably wouldn't be the creepiest thing Fai had ever done.

"Scratches, Gane," Fai said, voice equally thickened by the dust. "Nothing time won't cure. Unless you wanted to carry me down~?"

"Hell with that, I'll toss you. What were you _doing_, heading down like that? For that matter, what the hell happened up there?"

"I got angry," Fai said in a voice quieter than quiet. "I thought I was empty of magic."

"And that's what you waste it on? A damn _fit?_"

The magician made no reply, beginning to try and push himself up from the uneven shelf of steps.

"Answer me." The dust was starting to dissipate, slowly. "You've got nothing now and you used it almost killing all of us?"

"Sakura and Syaoran are fine," Fai said and the tenseness in his voice was a thin, thin line. "And the solid ground beneath your feet, the stair remaining intact, the children being fine—_those _are the reason I have nothing right now. The _fit_ was an accident. The fact you're still alive is not."

He pushed himself unsteadily to his feet and fell back against the wall, looking downwards. When he spoke again, his voice was normal. "We should check on the lovers."

"Mekyo!" Came a euphoric chirrup from downstairs and the white ball of Mokona came bouncing up the stair, squealing and big-eyed about locating a feather. Fai relaxed against the wall as it continued making that noise. Kurogane didn't move, letting the dust continue to settle around them. It was still too dusty to descend the stairs.

"They're fine down there, right?" he demanded of the creature.

"Mm!" it nodded forcefully, as well as it could with no neck. "They're fine!"

"Then where's this feather?"

Mokona looked down, then up. "Buried."

Kurogane considered punching the wall and decided against it. They would probably need both of his hands for digging, unless the magician was going to accumulate magic at an astonishing rate. Instead, he sighed deeply.

"Your call, magician. We dig?"

"We'll have to," Fai said wearily and it was a mark of his stress level that he _sounded_ weary. About as weary as Kurogane felt and the ninja knew that he was positioned to be very nasty to the magician indeed. It was Fai's fault they were here, Fai's fault the feather had been buried, and there was very little about their current situation that couldn't be brought to bear, somehow, on Fai. But what was the point?

You could yell at Fai all day and he'd smile at you. You'd get more of a reaction if you set fire to him, but not by much.

"Kuro-kuro, I'd like you to check on the children, if you'd be that good."

"You're not going to get all that digging done by yourself."

"Aw, Kuro-chan doesn't want to go alone? But he's too big and heavy to be much use on the stairs. Don't worry, everything'll be fine~"

The magician tilted his head to the side in what he probably thought was a cute activity. Really, it just made his insistence on being the one to take care of the digging more annoying. Kurogane wouldn't be much use on the stairs, but that didn't mean he wanted to leave the exhausted magician up here, hauling pieces of granite.

"I'll be fine," Fai repeated.

Reluctantly, Kurogane descended to where Syaoran and Sakura huddled, waiting. Syaoran sat up as Kurogane approached, immediately alert, while Sakura held the edge of his cloak over her face, breathing through the fabric.

"You two fine?" Kurogane asked.

"Yes—and Fai?" Syaoran asked anxiously.

"Fai's gonna do some digging to get us out of here."

"_Digging_?" Sakura said, curiously. Syaoran frowned, apparently thinking over something. Kurogane sat down next to the pair, settling in to be here a while.

"He probably shouldn't be, but he's gonna. If you've a mind to, you can probably help him, kid. You're lighter on those steps and probably able to keep your feet."

Syaoran looked back at Sakura, who cast her eyes down for a moment then nodded firmly to both him and herself.

"You should go," she said quietly. "He's very tired. So are you, Kurogane."

"Yeah. You might as well get some sleep while you can," Kurogane told her and the princess steeled herself.

"I'm not sleepy. But you and Fai have been up all the while."

"I'll be fine."

"If Syaoran could take the watch—" she said and the kid lit up like a _candle_ when she said his name—virtually casting shadows on the wall. "you could sleep, couldn't you?"

"The magician's not going to sleep."

"Maybe he should," the princess said gently and then asked Mokona, very nicely, to go up and tell Fai that he could afford to sleep like everyone else. The magician—gentle as Sakura—sent the creature back down with a very nicely-worded 'no, he didn't need sleep. Thank you.'

Though Kurogane drifted off into a half-sleep, he could still hear the sound of digging, rocks shifting-tumbling-going over the edge of the stairway.


	6. Chapter 6 Final: Push and Pull

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

If it's not painfully obvious from this chapter, I watch a lot of Stargate. And to those who don't/haven't seen it, it's a good show. As is LOST. Both of them are so much less complicated than Tsubasa. _

#

At some point in the night, Fai came down the stairs. Since important events were bound to happen at the worst possible hour and had to happen to Kurogane first, the ninja awoke to the magician excitedly shaking his shoulder. For once, Fai looked actually happy, not just obnoxiously euphoric. There was something real in this.

"We can go."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Kurogane muttered and turned over. Fai whined.

"But I don't know how long the feather will keep the portal open~"

"_What_?" Kurogane sat up sharply and Fai skipped back a few feet, smiling. In the half-moonlight, he looked more weary than ever and not all of that swaying was his natural stance. Dirt and granite covered his clothing – in an unusual move, he hadn't cleaned himself up yet.

"I've found a way out," he told Kurogane.

The ninja squinted up the stair. Additional tremors, probably the ones that had been waking him up off and on the past few hours, had further destroyed the stair, yet Fai had made it up and down in the dark. And that _after_ the magician said he was drained of magic. He felt a grudging sense of admiration for the magician's raw ability and a growing sense of doubt of his own. He'd already had a near death experience at the magician's hand today and wasn't eager to repeat the act.

"I'll hold your hand if you like," Fai needled, already several steps up the stair and looking down at Kurogane. "It isn't half as bad as it looks. Well," and he looked up the crumbling stair. "Not here, anyway."

Not to be outdone, Kurogane grumbled and gathered himself for a jump. Pausing, he looked back at the kids.

"Should we wake them up first?"

"It has to meet with Kuro-tan's approval first."

No point in delaying then. He made the jump, the stair shaking but holding as he landed. Good, if it could handle the impact of his weight, it should be able to take Sakura and Syaoran's, who might weigh a similar amount if both were soaking wet and carrying ten pound weights.

As they climbed the stair, the growing rainbow-bubble at the surface became visible, about as obtainable as a rainbow. The entrance to the surface had been most damaged by the earlier tremors—nothing more than a thin ramp was left leading to the bubble. To get to the ramp would mean climbing the uneven steps, all at angles to each other. One turned ankle on the steps would mean stumbling upwards onto rocky ground, cutting hands, and if you recoiled from _that_, it was only a short roll to the edge.

"Nice place to open a portal, mage," Kurogane muttered. "The kids are never going to make it up here."

"It's born of the feather," the magician said, as if he'd known this question was coming. "Ascot must have set it up to react this way before we came and I have no power to move it, or find out what's on the other side."

"Thanks to earlier."

Fai caught himself in the middle of what looked like a reflective nod, smiled stiffly. "Yes. Thanks to earlier."

"When you did whatever it was you did to Syaoran."

"Mm? Kuro-kuro is sleep-deprived."

"Never mind." It wasn't worth the battle right now and Fai was hardly in a state to be disclosing things. More important that they get off the rocky planet. "So how are we getting the feather if it's the only thing sustaining the portal?"

"That gets a little more complicated and I'm sure you don't really want to know."

Evasive. Again. "You know, that gets old fast. You don't tell me, we're not going."

"Fine." The magician sighed dramatically, even though he had clearly been preparing this explanation for the past hour, probably. Amazing it came out as coherently as it did, considering that he hadn't slept. "The feather is a magical conduit. Passing through a portal created by the feather should fully recharge my magic. I can grab the feather, recreate a portal, and follow you."

"When you don't know where we're going. _And_ be completely exhausted when we get there. What if we go into a war-zone, magician? It's not like it hasn't happened before."

"Which is why Kuro-rii is going and not me. He's so good at dealing with those."

"_You don't know where we're going_."

"My plan isn't a suggestion," Fai said mildly. "It is me getting us out of here. As the lovely princesses of Hikatsu requested."

"I don't care if it's a declaration in big flaming letters. You aren't getting the feather by staying behind, exhausting yourself, and then sling-shotting yourself after us. Explore your death wish plans on your own time."

"Aww, Kuro-gan is so perceptive. But this is the only plan that will result in the feather."

"All this so she can remember what happened when she was five," Kurogane didn't really care that he sounded derisive at this point.

"Yes." Fai looked back down the stair. "Because I'm sure she has pleasant memories of that time." His attention turned to the ninja again. "I won't leave without that feather."

"Fine." It was clear he wouldn't let Sakura pay for his getting kicked out of Hikatsu. "You know where it is?"

"Bottom of the portal."

"Good. You're going to grab it when we go through and Mokona's going to hold the portal open."

"But Mokona didn't open—"

"Your magic'll be changed, its magic'll be charged, if you have a still have a problem keeping the portal open with _that_ much magical energy running around, you aren't good for much, are you. Get the kids." He could feel the deep vibrations of the earth under his feet—the worms were stirring. It wasn't a couple of hours until dawn and they would be up and hungry.

"Kuro-tan, if it closes on me—"

"Then _I'll_ grab it!"

"Not going to say that~" the magician burbled happily. "If I don't make it through, explain things to the princesses. Explain that I did get you out."

For a moment, it sounded like out of character pride, the magician wanting credit for some failed expedition to get the feather. Then—

"You think they'll be waiting for us."

"Hmm, mm," the magician said noncommittally. "And scythed in half, I'll hardly be any help to you~"

"You won't be, so you'll be able to do all the talking. I'll be damned if I'm going to talk you up to a bunch of snooty princesses just cause you happen to be dead." He nudged the magician back towards the stairs. "Plan's got my approval, _now_. Get the kids."

"One thing more—"

"You said that portal won't stay open long."

"Don't be so pushy, Kuro-tan, it's a little thing." The magician rocked back on his heels, making it impossible to nudge him any further forward without risking his falling. "If I do make it through with the feather, I won't use magic again."

"Yeah, you've said that before."

"I won't. It's why the princesses sent us here. They saw something that I couldn't."

Kurogane said nothing, waiting for further disclosure, but the magician's gaze had turned inward and thoughtful. There was a moment of silence, then Fai murmured something that could have been 'I don't have as much control as I did then.'

"Better develop it then," Kurogane said dryly. Counseling Fai on how to manage a stockpile of magic was outside his realm of expertise.

"No magic. Hold me to it. By force if necessary." Fai smiled. "Because that's what Kuro-chii excels at!"

The ninja shrugged, nodded. It seemed important to the magician to have some kind of positive response and Fai did visibly relax on receiving it. A tenseness that had crept up over the long night, day, and night, throughout the digging and wandering in the dark, went out of him. Beneath their feet, the floor shuddered again; apparently one or two of the worms were early risers.

They headed down again to gather the pair of children. Syaoran would have happily carried Sakura up the stairs but as it was, the two of them hugged the wall, the kid holding the princess's hand all the way up. She was a trooper, never making an expression of fright or panic, though they had woken only ten minutes before and were now climbing an uneven staircase towards an uncertain portal to _somewhere_. Considering she had no memories to work with, Sakura was incredibly trusting of the crazy magician, grumpy ninja (Kurogane could own that), and protective pseudo-bodyguard that was Syaoran.

Mokona bounded through first, just to make sure they weren't headed into an ambush, and held the portal open under its own power. It stuck its head back through.

"Safe!"

"Thank you, Mokona," Fai said, strangely serious, and gestured grandly to Syaoran and Sakura. "If you would enter, my lord and lady."

Syaoran refused to move for a long moment and finally decided to duck his head.

"Thank you, Fai."

"Mm?" the magician blinked, tilted his head to the side. "Just get there safe~"

Kurogane thought wistfully of making himself a colossal nuisance to the magician, demanding to know _what_ Syaoran was thanking Fai for, what had happened down there to utterly expend the magician's energy, but if Fai hadn't told him yet, it was highly unlikely the magician would ever say. Fine.

Syaoran and Sakura stepped into the portal, Kurogane following. Mokona stayed behind with the magician. The world Kurogane stepped through on the other side was shrouded in fog so thick, it looked at outset that the world was nothing but white space. Sakura was sitting near the base of the portal and Kurogane could barely see her. Syaoran was nothing more than a thin outline, three feet away from the portal in the mist.

Princesses. Never could trust them to send you somewhere decent.

He meant to reassure the girl – really, it hadn't been kind of Syaoran to start wandering away, and she just looked at him, puzzled. He repeated himself and she replied, someone hesitantly, in complete gibberish.

Ah, right. No Mokona, no communication. He raised his voice and called to Syaoran, and the outline returned. They couldn't afford to lose each other in this. Kurogane sighed, crouching to investigate the soft and soggy ground which almost seemed to be _emitting_ fog.

"A house would've been nice," he said to himself.

But it was not to be. This was some swampy climate and who knew if the princesses cared enough for them even to send them to a civilized world. The portal was emitting a sad sound, its organic pulses of life getting weaker and less tied together. The color was changing too, from a friendly rainbow to a faded blue-white that was growing more and more translucent by the minute.

If nothing else, Mokona would make sure Fai wasn't stuck there. Still, the magician had to be the one to get them out of the world. Naturally, everyone but himself was already gone…

The portal thinned, pulsing only once a minute now. All trace of other colors in the miasma of magic was gone.

He snapped something unflattering about Fai and the duration of magical abilities. As if in response, the portal flashed out of sight altogether for a moment, then came back as nothing more than a translucent contour that encircled some swirly blue. It was hard to imagine anything real coming through it against the clearly-visible backdrop of white fog. Without Mokona, they would be without option here, as well as without magic.

The portal vanished again, this time finally, and Fai stood there, breathing thinly, Mokona on his shoulder. Neither said anything for a moment until the magician forced a smile and held up the light-emitting feather.

"It didn't want to let me leave."

"All for proving yourself was it?" Kurogane said. Beside the portal, Sakura had risen and moved to hug Fai around the waist. The magician stumbled a moment, then settled for petting her hair with his free hand, attempting to soothe her.

"Sorry to make you worry, Sakura-chan."

Kurogane hoped for Fai's sake (and how rare was that?) that it was at least a good memory. Around them, the mist was retreating. Ascot's voice came, quiet and weary, from the dissipating fog.

"The magician has been proven."

"Oh, lovely!" Fai said with mock drama. They waited, collectively, for more of an explanation, which didn't come. The world around them, however, came into focus. As Kurogane had suspected, it was a swamp as far as they could see, through he could smell the presence of a lake nearby. The forest was hacked back enough that someone had to live here—an area unattended by humans would have been more overgrown, no cleared away areas like the one they stood in now.

"The magician might need a nap then. Y'know, after all that."

Sakura and Syaoran were quick to agree, though Fai protested the delay mightily. Once they got him to sit down, then to lean against a tree and at least pretend to sleep, the magician dropped off within minutes, no more uncomfortably than he would have in a proper bed or a proper inn. Sakura, once she had received the feather, joined him in a deep sleep that worried Syaoran. He said nothing about it and helped Kurogane explore the immediate area.

They had to pretend this was normal. That everything and everyone was normal, or the strangeness of it all would freeze them with confusion, with no home, no vantage point, no succor but one another. None of them knew fully what had happened on the prison cave world and the princesses didn't seem inclined to show up and explain matters. The bottom line was that they were all alive and free, because of actions the magician had taken. Unexplained, but actions.

For the first time, Kurogane could think of Fai as part of the group's push and pull relationship. The little collective family that didn't trust each other yet, but would _have _ to, at some point of another.

It wasn't much, but it was something.

#

… and that transitions back into the canon of vol. 5-ish (I believe). I apologize if this ending is an anti-climax (and any number of other things) to anyone. Slipping things seamlessly into the Tsubasa canon is, like everything else, tricky for me.

Thank you for sticking with me these few weeks and reading.

-Lisa/Crimson


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